Diary of a Penguin-napper by Sally Harris

Author:Sally Harris [Harris, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2012-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

‘Marty, telephone!’ Jen yells from the lounge room.

‘Who is it?’ I yell back. Could it be Jessica?

‘Turds. Who else ever calls you?’

Well, it really might have been Jessica, calling up to arrange a study session but so far that hasn’t happened. I gave her my phone number at the end of class yesterday, just in case she needed to call me about anything related to our biology assignment, or anything related to her feelings for me.

But so far, no call. I’m still optimistic though. I jump down the stairs two at a time, grab the phone off Jen and run back up to my bedroom.

‘It’s about time you called me back!’ I pretty much shout at Turds.

‘Hey – sorry,’ he replies, ‘I had to wait for Janice to get off the phone to her mother.’ Janice is Turds’ babysitter who looks after him when his parents go out. She’s short, plump and spends most of her time talking for hours on the phone at the Trudman house.

‘Well I think I’ve found a way to get the money.’

‘Really? How?’ I can hear the excitement in Turds’ voice. He has taken this project very much to heart.

‘We are going to ... er ... steal an animal from the zoo when we go there on Monday.’

There is a stunned silence on the other end of the telephone line.

‘Hang on … we’re going to do what?’ Turds splutters. I can just imagine the look on his face right now.

‘Well, at the excursion on Monday, we are just going to take an animal and–’

‘Seriously? Isn’t that …’ He’s lost for words. ‘I don’t know – illegal? Against the law?’

‘Well possibly … but only if we get caught. But if we can pull it off, we’ll have enough money for every school trip that we ever have to go on ever again.’

‘And this is our next best option?’

‘C’mon Turds. It isn’t that bad. Besides, if it doesn’t work out, we can always just take it back. No harm done.’

There is silence on the other end of the line again but this time I know that he is thinking about what I’ve said.

Still silence.

‘Plus, it would make you a legend at school. Tom the Terrible would never mess with someone who was tough enough to steal from the zoo.’

Nothing.

‘And, just think how cool all the girls at school will think you are. Girls love a bad boy. Besides, we don’t have any better ideas. By the time I can grow a beard and afford a leather jacket and motorbike, the overnight trip is going to be long over.’

I hear a sigh on the other end of the phone and I know I’ve won.

‘Okay, okay. But what animal and who on earth would we sell it to?’

‘You can pick the animal and Conrad McFly is willing to pay $500 for us to deliver it to him on Wednesday afternoon in time for his little sister’s birthday party.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.